About Me

[in a cabin in the mountains, Jim wakes up and bangs his head on the table he was sleeping under]
Alex Rieger: Jim, are you alright?
"Reverend" Jim Ignatowski: Yeah...uh ... who are you?
Alex Rieger: I'm Alex. We're friends, we work together.
"Reverend" Jim Ignatowski: What? are we, lumberjacks?
Alex Rieger: No, we're cabdrivers.
"Reverend" Jim Ignatowski: I bet we don't do much business up here!

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Monday, November 29, 2004

Great googily-moogily, the Islamist PR machine has talked my kid's school into
a mosque field trip. And her blue-state social studies teacher seems to
have taken the bait -- oh how the progressive-thinking points will go up in his
self image file. Here comes the broad minded educator, too sophisticated to
stereotype the poor misunderstood muslim. But there are questions
I'd like the kid to ask, such as, would we be called a religion of peace if
fr. David was able to issue fatwas calling for the murder of Catholic detractors?
What about if fr Dan decided that a Jihad against Canada was called for?

Course, I love the kid too much to suggest she challenge the teacher. Social studies
teachers are the only class of people more close-minded than the Imams.
He has warned them, "don't be surprised if they stare at anyone who takes off their
head scarf". He didn't mention that their catholic school uniforms would be
considered scandalous in Afghanistan, an invitation for a terrible beating.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

I don't know why I do it. I could just carry the dog to the
car and go. But every time we go to the vet, I start off
by getting the dog all excited about a car ride. "Wanna go? Wanna go
ride in the car? Go get your leash, we'll ride in the car."
Dog excitement fills the air until we pull up to the
building and vet-realization takes hold. I'm lucky dogs are so
forgiving; I really deserve a good bite or two.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

So the old TV starts sputtering and throwing
more sparks than usual, and I finally have an
excuse to get a bigger, better, more manly set.
And after getting it home, and getting the neighbor
to help carry it in, and getting enrolled in the
engineering course it will take to learn how to
work the remote control, I find that the only thing
on TV these days is reality shows and you-leave-the-
house-so-a-crew-of-strangers-can-speed-decorate-it
shows. (which is really just another reality show with
the end result being that someone has to live with
purple walls when it's over)

Well, at least I can watch Sponge Bob with the kid. The
Bob should be about a foot tall on this set, and he
should be a bright yellow, not the orange tint that
the old TV would render anything that wasn't blue.

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Monday, November 15, 2004

Remember George Galloway?He's still at it, although I would have expected him to have some shame at being caught with his hand in Saddam's cookie jar. Anyway, his libel trial is underway. Hope you're having a good day and he's not. From Annanova:

Galloway 'opposed Saddam's tyranny'

George Galloway is a "long-standing opponent of tyranny and oppression", the High Court heard at the start of the MP's long-awaited libel action against the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Galloway, dressed in a dark suit and patterned red tie, sat encircled by lawyers as his QC, Richard Rampton, opened his case over an April 2003 story about his alleged financial links to Saddam Hussein.

He told Mr Justice Eady, who is hearing the five-day case without a jury, that the 50-year-old MP for Glasgow Kelvin had an interest in the Middle East that went back to the 1970s.

He said: "One of his interests has been to champion what he sees as the need for freedom and justice for the Palestinian people in the Middle East.

"He has also been a long-standing opponent of tyranny and oppression. That has particular reference to this case because one of his targets dating from the Seventies was the tyrannical regime of Saddam Hussein and his cronies in Iraq.

"He has been entirely consistent about that ever since that date up until the fall of Saddam Hussein more recently.

"He has been the leader of a campaign against the regime and for the sake of the Iraqi people at a time, and through the whole of the period, when Western governments were in great good friendship with Saddam Hussein."

Mr Galloway, who was expelled from the Labour Party in October last year, is likely to face cross-examination by the newspaper's QC, James Price.

The case is expected to focus on detailed legal submissions on the so-called "Reynolds qualified privilege defence".

Named after the case in which it was first developed, involving former Irish premier Albert Reynolds, it involves considering whether it was responsible journalism and in the public interest for the newspaper to publish the contents of documents on which their story was based.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

So French doctors are going to try coffin therapy on the
ailing dead/alive/only-sleeping Palestinian leader. OK, but
there are reports that Yasser's doctor may want to try autopsy
therapy first. Hope they can coordinate.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Enemy resistance in Fallujah is starting to collapse, with US forces deep inside the city and fighters pulling back to their ultimate stronghold in the Jolan district. There is no more room to retreat with the Euphrates to the west and American forces on every side.....

The best coverage I've found about the continuing battle is
at Belmont Club.I probably share something with Michael Moore today. We're both
praying that the forces of good prevail. Only difference is that
he thinks the car-bombers are the good guys.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Red meats and processed meats such as
hot dogs appear to increase the risk of diabetes, as does a heavily
"Western" diet, according tonew research released Monday.

Run for your lives.It's getting to where you can't eat anything without first doing a risk assessment.
The above article was a downer but less so now that I've googled "Teresa T Fung",
the author of the study. Seems her favorite area of study is red meat. (it will give
you heart disease/stroke, it will cause you to absorb a 'non-human protein', it will
make you fat, it causes corrosion on your barbeque grill, it's, even at this moment,
starting a fire in your refrigerator) Sheesh. Why don't they ever identify themselves
as don't-eat-the-animal fanatics at the beginning of the article? Well, Fung is
an easy name to remember. Next year, when she comes out with a definitive study
linking red meat and poor gas mileage, I'll take it with a grain of salt. (and pepper)

Friday, November 05, 2004

I know for sure that you, Oh America will go under;
I know for sure that you, Oh Europe will go under;
I know for sure that you, Oh Holland, will go under;
I know for sure that you, Oh Hirsi Ali, will go under;
I know for sure that you, Oh unbelieving fundamentalist, will go under.

The hard-hitting policies of the current immigration minister, Rita Verdonk, have been adjusted to respond to such fears. They include such measures as limiting the influx of immigrants by arranged marriages and making more effort to integrate newcomers into Dutch society, for example by compelling them to learn the Dutch language.

Many immigrants say the government's aim is full assimilation. They attack what they see as a lack of knowledge and respect for their own cultural and social norms....

Yeah, cultural norms like using brutal murder to silence critics. Wake-up wood-shoed people. You can't protest terrorists back into inactivity.

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

And the closure thing seems no closer.
I guess it was to be expected that JFK's mighty intellect
would allow him to visualize the unlikely combination of
provisional ballots, electoral new math, and volcano eruptions
that could come together and produce a victory for him.
Can't blame the guy for hesitation when all he needs is a few
computer glitches and lightning strikes to come out on top.

I just hope that we can all work together after this is all
settled. It would be a shame if hard feelings prevented JFK
from sharing his secret plans for ending discord in Iraq,
balancing the budget, and getting us invited into the EU.

Looks like the voters have made up their minds, correctly, I think.
Now the only question is how long Kerry wants to play out the
Black Knight scene from the Holy Grail. "No, no, it's
just a scratch. Have atcha then!" Let's hope the vote (re)counting
ends before Christmas.

Maybe Kerry and his bride will just show up at the White House one day
with a U-haul full of brie. "Geooorge, we're ready to be president now.
Come on, George, it's our turn."

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

300 children bitten by 'blood sucking' monkeys at famous Indian temple

Monkeys lurking at an ancient Hindu temple in India's northeast have attacked up to 300 children over three weeks, temple officials said Tuesday.

"They hide in trees and swoop on unsuspecting children loitering about in the temple premises or walking by, clawing them and even sucking a bit of blood," Bani Kumar Sharma, a priest at the Kamakhya temple in Assam state, told The Associated Press. The temple, one of the most famous in India, is located in Gauhati, Assam's capital.

I'm ready for the usually boring mechanics of casting my vote.
The whole thing should take ten minutes if it's anything
like last time. Who knows though? Democrat lawyers are supposed
to fill the polling places. I imagine those who aren't felons
will also take the opportunity to cast their votes. Good. Anything
that keeps them out of the courts is probably good for America.

The ritual of going to a polling place and entering the booth tends to invest a certain solemnity to the civic ritual of voting. If ever there were a moment to take a deep breath and let your heart (and gut) consider the action you are about to take, casting your vote today for president is it. Today’s decision matters for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren.

Call me a hopeless partisan, but I cannot imagine that the deep breath factor benefits John F. Kerry. There is nothing about him which inspires confidence or trust. Can anyone tell us what his plan is to win the War on Terror, other than to do a “better job” than Bush? Can anyone tell us where his deepest convictions lie? Aside from the importance of accumulating his own wealth and power, that is.